All In The Technique
by Moonraker One
Summary: We all know about Krillin's old girlfriend maron, but what if her past had been slightly different? In this story, which spans both DB and DBZ, maron trained under Hebisen'nin, and shows her life during and after the Tenka'ichi Budokai.
1. Section 1 Chapter One

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

Dragonball 

Chapter One – A New Student

      It had been quite an adventure. So far, no one had seen such skill brought to the world as when he arrived close to nine hundred years ago, back when he was younger. Long before even the turtle hermit had been born, he was alive and well, learning the ways of the snake style technique from the master that had lived on Earth before the other martial arts masters would pop up. After that, he stumbled across the Spring of Eternal Youth that would sustain his life long into his nine-hundred-seventies. Since then, he's pondered his existence living in a small hut on the top of a hill somewhere a few hundred kilometers south of the Zulmyzubri mountain range, where it was slightly less frozen and thus, far more livable. 

      He gulped down that last drop of his drink-no one knew exactly what kind of drink it was, he just had a limitless supply of it-and effortlessly hurled the bottle into the trash bin. As he leaned back into his chair for a long-needed nap, he heard the faint but audible patter of footsteps running up the side of his hill. This confused him; it sounded like a child's footsteps, yet, he wondered what child would be able to evade the perils of the bottom of the hill to make it to the top. The last person who was able to reach the top of his hill was Korin, who would learn his way of the snake and later teach his own training technique at the top of a tower.

      He scooted closer to the door, making extreme care to both suppress his ki and stay out of sight, and heard the call of a young girl. "Mister Hebi-sen'nin!" She called out. "I need to train in your Snake style of training!" He read her mind and did not see any evil intentions, so he let his ki rise back up to normal levels, and moved outside, into plain view: the area of caution.

      "Mister Hebi-sen'nin!" She cried again. "Forgive me, lord Hebi-sen'nin, but I've come here because I need to train under you! It is quite important!"

      He carefully chose his words, just in case she was a spy or assassin or someone who was a decoy while someone else killed him. "Miss…?!"

      "Oh, forgive me!" She cried yet a third time. "My name is Maron, and I am here for your training."

      "Ah Ms. Maron," he replied. "You seem like you have positive desires, in such case I guess I should train you in the ways of the snake."

      Upon hearing such a statement she began to jump up and down, yelling and clapping. "Yyyipppppeeeee!" She yelled. He rolled his eyes at her simplicity. It was quite amazing; she was only twelve-his estimation of her age-or maybe even younger, and she already was interested in martial arts. He did not understand why she was so eager to learn the techniques that took him close to five years of intensive training under some of the strictest teachers of all time. Maybe, he thought, she would surprise him.

      "Well," he said, "if you are to learn the ways of the snake style, you are going to have to be prepared for some of the harshest training of all time. This is, after all, the style of the gods."

      "I'll be ready for anything, mister Hebi-sen'nin!" Her squeaky voice was cute; it gave him a false sense of her being inexperienced. Unbeknownst to him, she had been trained formally by her older brother who was a student of kame-sen'nin, the turtle hermit.

      Ah, Kame-sen'nin. His old nemesis, the turtle hermit; the one man who had the audacity to challenge him at the very first Tenka'ichi Budokai close to five hundred years ago. That was the first-and only-time he had been defeated by a fellow master of the martial arts. Ever since, he had been working hard to try and find the master who had defeated him, but since he could not detect the ki of said individual, he gave up on revenge, and decided that it would be best to live his life out on top of a hill and let the students come to him. He did not know at that time that it was going to be quite a while until someone came to him seeking training.

      He looked down at his new disciple. "Maron," he said, leading her into the training room section of his hut. "Today will be your very first lesson; you will learn how to use, manipulate, and sense ki."

      As she walked into his somewhat small hut, she noticed that it consisted of four main areas: there was a kitchen where he ate, a bedroom with two cots separated at the opposite ends of the room, a bathroom, and the largest of the four rooms, a rather large room with white tile on the floors and the walls. Walking into the large training room, Hebi-sen'nin pressed a button on the wall near the door, and the door slammed shut, and the lights became brighter.

      "This room, Maron," he said, showing her the room in its entirety, "is the training room. It is here where all of our lessons will be taking place. This room is treated so that any damage we do to the walls or the floors will be instantly repared. We can also increase the gravity of the room for better strength training."

      She looked around, then faced her new master. He sat down Indian style on the floor, and motioned for his new pupil to do so as well. He closed his eyes, moved his hands so they were parallel to each other, and began to focus his ki into a small sphere between his two open palms. She was fascinated by the light from the ki sphere, and curiously, moved for a closer look. "This," Hebi-sen'nin explained, "is ki. It is the energy of your soul that all living beings possess. You have to be quite skilled to be able to sense ki or to use it."

      As she could tell, this was going to be interesting.


	2. Section 1 Chapter Two

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

Dragonball 

Chapter Two – The regimen

      As she sat there Indian style, facing her master, he focused his energy back into his palms and opened his eyes. "You can do this just as acutely as I can, you just will have to practice."

      She seemed confused. "What do I have to do to use this 'ki' stuff, mister Hebi-sen'nin?"

      He put his hand on her forehead and began to explain the art of ki sensing and manipulating. "My child," he explained, "ki is not hard to use or sense. First, I ask of you to close your eyes."

      She did as instructed.

      "Next," he continued, "imagine that there is, deep within the middle of your body, a large ball of white light. Imagine that this ball of light is warm to the touch and is firm when you grab hold of it."

      Again, she did as instructed.

      "Wow!" She yelled. "I can actually feel it! I feel the texture and the warmth and everythinggggg!" He couldn't help but smile at the sound of her enthusiasm.

      "Now comes the hardest part of ki manipulating," he said. "Imagine that an invisible force is pulling a section of this ball towards your hands."

      At first, she found the pull easy to perform. After a few seconds, however, sweat began to form on her forehead, indicating that she was struggling to separate a section of her ki from its main pool of energy. It was hard, but once she did it this time it would be far simpler each time she used her ki. Once an entire minute had passed, she began to grit her teeth in agony over the removal of a section of ki. He felt sorry for her because of how difficult it was for her, but felt no remorse because it was, by far, the easiest and most basic component of what was to come.

      "You have to try harder!" he yelled. "Don't let this basic part of your training get the best of you!"

      Poof. It wasn't big; in fact, it was barely visible and the light it gave off was dimmer than a flashlight with weak batteries, but it was there. She had mastered the basic component of the martial art of the snake. There was, between her palms, a small ball of pure ki. Once she opened her eyes, it was as if she had won the lottery.

      "Yipeee! Mister Hebi-sen'nin!" She yelled. "I mastered this 'ki' stuff!"

      He removed his hand from her forehead, careful not to pull out a section of her bluish hair. "Now," he replied, "Can you feel my ki?"

      She closed her eyes a minute, then opened them.

      "I can sense you when I can't see, Mister Hebi-sen'nin! I know where you are!"

      He shook his head. "There's a more important aspect to this, Maron. This time keep your eyes open."

      "Yeah, I can feel that your ball of ki is much larger than mine, Mister Hebi-sen'nin!"

      "Exactly," he replied. "That means that I am far stronger than you. Don't worry, after awhile, your energy will be closer to mine than it is now."

      He pressed the button and led her out of the training room and into the kitchen. He pulled a plate from the cupboard and placed it on the table in front of where Maron was sitting. He pointed his extended palm at her plate, and a red beam of ki shot from his hand and turned into food when it touched her plate. When she noticed that he changed pure energy into food, she became excited.

      "Wow, Mister Hebi-sen'nin!" She cried. "You can make food out of this 'ki' stuff? Amazing! Tell me something, though; why aren't you eating?"

      "Because I do not need to eat," was his reply.

      Huh? Did she hear that right?

      "Why don't you need to eat, Mister Hebi-sen'nin?"

      "You saw that red ki? Because the ki was red, that meant that it was the type of ki that satisfies your hunger. I don't need to eat simply because I can move a ball of red ki directly into my stomach."

      She raised an eyebrow. "So, the color of the ki is important as to what type it is?"

      "Exactly."

      "My brother taught me some ki aspects, but I never could master it. How come he didn't explain this to me?"

      "Who trained him?"

      "Kame-sen'nin."

      That name made Hebi-sen'nin's blood boil. He smiled at the thought that he-and only he-knew how to turn pure ki into food without it even leaving your body. This gave him an easy advantage over his most hated nemesis. He smiled to himself as he thought of all the other advantages he now might have. This meant that, if he were to battle his old adversary, he would be able to last longer because he could turn his energy into food, which later on, meant more energy. Perhaps now he should teach his new pupil how to do this fascinating method of using your ki for survival purposes.

      After Maron finished her plate, she took it over to the sink and washed her plate. Once she had put up her plate in the cupboard, Hebi-sen'nin led her into the training room once again to teach her some more about the art of manipulating ki for personal use. Ki, as he explained, was something that could be used for personal use as well as combat.

      "Maron, so far you've learned the basic ways of manipulating and sensing ki," he explained. "You also need to learn the more complex aspects of ki manipulation."

      "Such as?" She asked him.

      "Such as how I said you can turn ki into food to live off of. Let's begin."

      He sat down Indian style again and motioned for her to do so as well. Once they both were seated on the floor, he began to explain the finer aspects of ki.

      "First of all," He explained, "go back to your main pool of ki. Can you see it?"

      "Yes, Mr. Hebi-sen'nin," she replied. "What do I do now?"

      "Take off a small chunk of ki off of the main reserve of energy."

      She did as instructed. What came next, was the complex part.

      "What do I do now, Mr. Hebi-sen'nin?"

      "Turn it red."

      That confused her slightly; exactly how was she supposed to turn it red? There had to have been a less-complex explanation.

      "How do I turn it red, Mr. Hebi-sen'nin?" She asked, confusion taking her mind slightly off of the task at hand.

      "Imagine the bit of energy itself turning from white to red," he explained. "This should make the process less difficult."

      She was struggling at first, but after a few seconds, she managed to smile.

      "I did it, Mr. Hebi-sen'nin!" She cried. "I did it! Now what do I do?"

      He smiled; boy, was she learning fast. He remembered that for him to do the same it took him almost thirty days longer than she was currently requiring.

      "Now," he replied, "you move that ball of red ki over to inside of your stomach."

      She managed to do as instructed.

      "Cool, Mr. Hebi-sen'nin!" She yelled. "I managed to pull it off! What do I do now?"

      That confused him; if it was done, she should not still be sensing that red ki.

      "Did you let it go?"

      She blinked. "Excuse me? What do you mean?"

      He rolled his eyes; this was the same mistake that he made the first time that he was taught this technique.

      "You're still holding onto it," he added. "Imagine yourself letting it go and releasing it."

      She took a deep breath and let it all out. When she opened her eyes, it was clear that she had mastered yet another technique that he was taught when he was younger. Perhaps this student was going to be the one. It was years that he had spent searching for the "right student." He'd taught many people, but none of them were quite up to his expectations. Maron, a bluish-haired young girl who so far had quite a bit of potential, was so far one of the best students that he'd ever had. He knew that many of his students would seek his training, and even learn his techniques, but could not master his ultimate technique. It was the Daimaoh-ken. This was the technique of the gods that had been taught to him. No one but him knew the level of power that was held in this one ultimate powerup.


	3. Section 1 Chapter Three

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

Dragonball 

Chapter Three – The Real Training Begins

As the teacher and his student sat parallel to each other on the floor of the training room, Hebi-sen'nin was contemplating whether or not to try and teach her the full aspect of his training or not. If he decided that she was not to be taught the power of the gods move, it would make her not as strong as she could be if she were taught to her full potential. If he decided that she was to be taught the ultimate power-up, would she be able to wield such power acutely, or would she turn evil and destroy everything? The last thing he wanted was to have to stand up against his own pupil simply because he taught the ultimate technique to the wrong person. Reading her mind, however, he saw that she was not going to use the technique for evil if she learned it, because she was only interested in his training for revenge of her village that was destroyed. Interested in her story, he read further into her mind for the complete details of her village's destruction, and saw that her village was killed by a man by the name of Tsuru-sen'nin; the crane hermit. The thought of a fellow martial arts master using his pupils' power for the purpose of evil was to be punished with the utmost punishment.

"Hebi-sen'nin!" She cried. "You were right! I can go without eating with the use of ki!"

He smiled and ruffled her blue hair. "See?" He replied. "I told you. See what happens when you believe in me?"

He couldn't help but smile as he thought of his disciple learning some of the techniques that he had mastered all those years ago. He also noticed that when she spoke a few moments ago, she referred to him simply by his name than "Mister Hebi-sen'nin." He was the snake hermit; as a master of the martial arts, he did not understand why someone would call him mister.

"Now," he said, moving on to a different technique. "It is time for me to teach you the most difficult aspect of your training. None of the training you are scheduled for from this point forward will work if you don't learn how to master this technique."

"How long do you think this'll take, Hebi-sen'nin?" She asked, hoping that this would, like the others, not take long.

Hebi-sen'nin shook his head. "I'm afraid that even you, who seems to be learning at a rapid pace, will take at least a week to master this one. It took me a hundred years, and for you, this will be the single hardest part of this training regimen."

Hebi-sen'nin stood up straight, closed his eyes, and held his arms firm at his side. For almost an entire twenty seconds he stood still with eyes closed, silently concentrating on what he was doing. Once a minute had passed, he opened his eyes and looked straight at his pupil; his eyes were glowing a dark glow. A dark field of ki surrounded him, giving a demonic feeling to his pupil. All of a sudden the field of dark ki expanded, and she felt his power skyrocket. He'd easily gone from a hundred fifty to a thousand, in an instant.

"DAIMAOH-KEN TIMES ONE!" He shrieked, the field of energy expanding to their normal stage. The surge of power almost threw Maron off of her feet. After he was finished charging up, he let his power return to normal. One distinguishing characteristic of Hebi-sen'nin was that he did not look old like Kame-sen'nin did. Hebi-sen'nin looked like a buff sixty-year-old man, even though he was over a millennium old. He was not bald, and his hair was still a dark shade of gray. So, when he powered up, the dark field only made him look evil, not old, shriveled, and evil.

"Wow!" Maron yelled. "That was amazing, Hebi-sen'nin!"

"See?" He replied. "I told you that I still had some life left in me!"

"How can I do that, Hebi-sen'nin?"  
Then, he moved closer to Maron, and held her wrists as she closed her eyes to concentrate. He closed his eyes as well, hoping that it would aid in her learning this technique. Unlike other training styles, the Snake method only had two techniques: learning to use ki for personal purposes, and the Daimaoh-ken. Also, unlike other techniques, this was also the best if you wanted to have a battlefield advantage.

"First," he explained, "go back to your main reserve of ki. Now, this will be harder because it will involve your entire ki reserve instead of one section, so be careful."

She nodded her head. "I'm ready," she replied.

"Imagine your entire pool of ki turning black."

She did as she was asked, with some difficulty.

He continued. "Turn it white again."

She nodded, and did as instructed, although sweat was forming again on her forehead.

"Turn it black again," he added, "now this is the hard part. You need to keep it changing between white and black so fast that it appears gray, but is still shifting.

"Couldn't I just turn it gray?" She asked.

"No," he replied. "I tried it, and it is far weaker to the point of being useless. Just do as I instructed."

She gritted her teeth as she changed it back and forth between black and white, and when he opened his eyes, he knew that she was not going to learn it today. He also noticed that blood began to trickle from her nose, indicating that if she continued struggling, it would cost her her life.

"Stop!" He yelled. "It's too much for you!"

It was useless; he could not stop it once she started. She was either going to learn or die. He just hoped that she would be able to withstand the surge of power that would ensue if she were to actually manage to pull off the technique. She was learning the style of the snake at such a pace that not even he had learned it that quickly. _How could anyone, _he thought, _learn the snake method this quickly?_

"EEEYAHHH!" A scream let out by Maron echoed throughout the empty room. The blood was really flowing now; it was obvious that he had taken this a little too quickly.

"DAIMAOH-KEN!" She yelled, and much to his amazement, she actually pulled it off. As the blood stopped running down from her nose, she looked up to her master in utter glee; he looked back down at her in a complete state of shock.

_M...my god! He thought. __She actually did it!_

Yes, she had. It was still the first day, and she'd already mastered the primary technique of the snake style. It was the technique of the Daimaoh-ken that was the main aspect of the snake style o f martial arts, and that meant that she was almost done with the training on the very first day. Was it skill or was she simply that good? He had to know.

When the next day came, Maron was up three hours before her master and was already ready for the next stage of training. They woke up, did their morning exercises outside, then proceeded into the training room for training. Today, it was how to go about performing a high-octane battle.

"Today," Hebi-sen'nin said, "you will learn about what to do when fighting against strong opponents."

"I'm ready, Hebi-sen'nin," Maron said, readying herself for combat.

That would be one of many days of training where she would learn ever more from the eternal master of the snake method. She had come here seeking a way of attaining revenge for her destroyed village, yet after a few weeks of training, she had all but forgotten about her desire for revenge, and became more and more focused on her training. Hebi-sen'nin, a man who had not had a student in almost more than half a millennium, was just as happy as he had ever been.


	4. Section 2 Chapter One

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter One – First Public Appearance

            The theme of the Tenka'ichi Budokai was always one of excitement, and now that it was back again after three years, everyone was eagerly anticipating a glorious return of the one who had won the tournament the past years; Jackie Chun, a.k.a. Kame-sen'nin in disguise. Everyone, that is, except for a certain someone. He was someone who had quite a problem with the turtle master.

            In any case, he was not here simply to get revenge on his old adversary; he was here for the tournament, for he wanted, after all these years, to have a student to show off at the Budokai. The last time he had a student, there was no Budokai, so now he figured it was high time. After all, he figured his student, Maron, had had just enough training to more than be a contender at this tournament. The greeting of adversaries, however, was not fun.

            "KAME-SEN'NIN!" Hebi-sen'nin yelled, walking up to the contender's area. "What are you doing here?!"

            Kame-sen'nin, complete with his own pupil, approached his old foe. "Ah, Hebi-sen'nin," he said. "Are you still angry at me for defeating you? Are you here to be defeated again?"

            Hebi-sen'nin couldn't help but give a smirk. "Kame-sen'nin," he replied, "you beat me because I had not mastered the Snake Style completely yet. The next DAY after losing to you, I mastered the ultimate power of the snake style. Now, I would easily defeat you."

            "Well," he replied, "I'm not going to be in the tournament, so I guess you won't get your revenge."

            _WE'LL see about that, Kame-sen'nin,_ he thought.

            After signing up both him and Maron, Hebi-sen'nin escorted his student back into the qualifying area. This tournament brought all sorts of warriors from all corners of the planet, and all of them had the same prize in their sights. One thing that confused Hebi-sen'nin slightly was the presence of one of Tsuru-sen'nin's pupils in one of the other units. This was the student of a martial arts master who was infamous throughout the world of martial arts masters for teaching techniques that normally should not be taught, and for using less-than-creditable methods of training. It would seem that even the less-than-honorable were allowed to have pupils. In any case, Maron would have to watch out for whatever this student had in store for her.

            Maron saw that here in the qualifying area, one person was standing at the edge of the ring that warriors qualified in; this was the boy that defeated the entire Red Ribbon Army. No one understood exactly how he defeated an entire army with just a stick as his weapon of choice, but she knew that this boy was powerful. It may have seemed weird, but this wasn't the last time she'd seen a boy that was younger than her and just as strong as many of the martial arts masters that taught pupils. The last time was the little brother of the duo that destroyed her village. He was only seven then, and now, he was certainly at least eleven. She would have given almost anything to be able to fight him here, at the tournament where lots of people would be able to see his defeat.

            "Hello," Maron said, walking up to the defeater of the RR army. "My name is Maron, and I'm going to be fighting you later on in the tournament."

            The boy reached up and shook her hand. When he did, she noticed that his handshake was quite strong. "Hiya!" he replied. "My name is Son Goku! It was nice to meet you!"

            Maron smiled at his childlike cheerfulness. He looked as though he was close to thirteen, and just a little bit shorter than her. She, who was sixteen and half a foot taller than him, was impressed by the outward cheeriness of Goku. She hoped that he would provide quite an opponent to challenge. The first of the qualifying rounds that she was interested in, was when Goku's training partner went up against a rather large foe. She looked at Goku, curious.

            "That bald kid is your training partner, isn't he?" She asked, wondering herself exactly how she knew that as a fact. Suddenly, a thought hit her; _was she reading his mind?_

            "Wow, you're smart!" He replied. "That's Kuririn, my friend and training partner."

            She nodded her head in agreement; she thought that was the way it was. She was confused herself as to whether or not she really was reading his mind, when she noticed that she was able to hear his thoughts. He was analyzing his partner's fighting style and technique; this kid was incredible. She noticed that there wasn't a move that Kuririn was using that, by the time it was done, Goku hadn't analyzed and figured out its counterpart at least three different ways.

            The fight was over almost as quickly as it began, meaning that it was Goku's turn to prove himself in combat. He calmly stepped into the square ring, and bowed to his opponent in respect for the battle code. Once the bell had rung, he flew forward faster than just about everyone could see, and slammed his elbow into his opponent. If that wasn't incredible enough, he did it with such control that he only sent his foe a foot out of the ring. Maron knew from that point on that Goku was going to be the most powerful antagonist that she'd ever fought up to that point. She looked forward to it.

            Finally, it was her turn. She was pitted against some guy who had a diagonal scar on his left cheek, and one over his eye. She picked up that his name was Yamucha, but that was inconsequential.

            "ROGA FU-FU KEN!" He screamed, and she knew that he was headed for his Fist of the Wolf Fang Gale. Instinctively, she bent herself over backwards so that his attack sailed directly above her. When he was caught off guard by this, she did an upward kick that sent him up towards and through the roof of the building. She then calmly stood up and walked towards the edge of the ring as he hit the ground unconscious.

            "I look forward to our fight, Son Goku," she said smugly.

            Goku shot her a confused glance as she walked away from the ring. _How the heck did she defeat Yamucha?_ He thought. _I thought that she was weak!_

            Obviously he did not know exactly who she was. She was Maron, a blue-haired girl that was quite powerful because she had trained under Hebi-sen'nin, who probably was the single greatest teacher of martial arts that ever lived. This meant that if you were going to fight her, you'd better be one of two things. You'd either have to be quite a powerful warrior, or someone who was incredibly lucky. It just happened that Goku managed to fit into both of these large categories.

            It was quite a few people that had their dreams end when they lost the qualifying round at the Tenka'ichi Budokai, but by the time that the rounds had ended, Goku, Kuririn, Maron, Panpoot, Tenshinhan, Jackie Chun, Chaozu, and the Masked One had all qualified for the main aspects of the tournament. Now, it was the time of the decider: who would face who? Everyone wondered who they'd be fighting in this latest installment of the Tenkai. The Masked One was to draw first.

            He arrogantly walked up and drew a one. This meant that he was to fight in the opening round of the Tenkai. The next was Panpoot, who walked up and drew a four. Kuririn, the short bald one, drew a two. The first match was decided: Kuririn vs. Masked One. Goku, friend of Kuririn and training partner, drew a three, pitting him against Panpoot. Two out of four matches were decided upon already. Tenshinhan, the ever-arrogant one who had three eyes, pulled out a five. He was followed by Jackie Chun, who bared an uncanny resemblance to Kame-sen'nin, was to fight him because he drew a six. By process of elimination, this left Maron with Chaozu for the beginning of the Tenkai. Everyone was on edge, and for good reason. This was, after all, the most prestigious tournament ever to be held. Everyone knew that if they were to win, they'd have to pull out every ounce of skill they had.


	5. Section 2 Chapter Two

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Two – The Actual Tournament

            The initial round was between Kuririn and the Masked One. Kuririn knew, as he walked toward the ring, that his opponent was an arrogant piece of work that did not understand what he was up against. Kuririn normally was quite humble, but this guy, who was almost seven and a half feet of stupid, was weak and pathetic. Even the viewers did not have high expectations for him against a student of Kame-sen'nin; especially after they saw his performance last time at the previous tournament.

            "I hope you've got your affairs in order," announced the overly-proud masked fighter. "I'm going to crush you so badly!"

            Kuririn shook his head; this did not even warrant a proper response. He simply lowered his stance by an inch, and waited for the gong to tone. When it did, he impulsively flew forward and threw his elbow into Masked One's stomach. The crowd held their breath, then let it out as Masked One fell unconscious in the center of the ring. Victoriously, Kuririn threw an arm in the air, which signaled the crowd's yells. The announcer put the microphone up to his mouth and announced Kuririn's victory, although his input was quite unnecessary.

            In the back, Panpoot was throwing fists at an invisible target in preparation for his match. Goku, eager to size up his foe, cheerfully approached his soon-to-be adversary. "Hey," he said. "You're my opponent next, right?"

            Panpoot ceased his flurry and looked down at this interference. "Yeah," he indifferently replied. "I'm going to show you why I was victorious in my last two tournaments!"

            Just then, the two of them left for the ring to begin their own match against each other. The announcer, who had seen quite a few matches in his career, knew that this was going to be quite a lineup with these two against each other. Goku, who was already in the ring by the time the announcer began telling the crowd about the match, looked up to see Kuririn cheering him on. "You be careful, Goku!" His friend's vote of confidence was good but useless in this battle.

            "Begin!" The announcer's yell into his microphone signaled the beginning of the end for Panpoot.

            Panpoot, expecting to win easily, threw a punch aimed at Goku's forehead. In the brief instant before Panpoot's fist would have struck, Goku hurled three knee-shots at his gut in rapid succession. The surprised Panpoot took two heavy footsteps forward, then dropped unconsciously on the tiled ring. The announcer raised his microphone and announced a Goku victory for this match. What he said incorrectly, though, was that it was a single strike.

            _That was NO single shot,_ Maron thought. _That was three gut shots in less than the time it takes a person to blink. This is going to be interesting._

            Next up, was one of the biggies of the tournament. This was the point where the real warriors fought each other. Whereas the previous matches were decided in less than an instant, this one between Tenshinhan and Jackie Chun would obviously be drawn out and extreme. The announcer casually drew up his microphone and asked the audience if they were ready for such an intense match. Maron, Goku, and everyone else who was still in this one knew they were not.

            Tenshinhan did not wait for the gong; he was half way over to Chun's position by the time it had rung. Jackie instinctively prepared his defense for a major assault, which was to be expected. Tenshinhan, who was expecting to end this easily, was quite astonished when an old man caught his knee attack in midair and delivered a punch then a straight side kick directly to Ten's chest. Tenshinhan then threw a rapid kick to Jackie's head which actually caught its target, staggering the old man temporarily. Chun followed this up with a fake to the head then a knee to the gut followed by a sweep, which missed.

            "You're quite good for an old man," Ten said in response to the counterattack. "I wasn't expecting this."

            "You'd be far better if you weren't evil," Chun announced.

            Tenshinhan threw the attack that would become one of his greatest: the Taiyo-ken. This attack blinded almost everyone who wasn't expecting a sudden burst of light, which was just about everyone. Jackie threw a punch blindly which missed, but was responded to by knee to the back of his head. He was thrown forward a bit, but got up and delivered a powerful kick straight to Ten's head.

            Both of them knew that this match was not really going anywhere because both of them were too equal. Jackie, who was not in this for the money, decided that he was no longer needed, and so, jumped out of the ring by his own choice. Of all the people there, only Maron and her master Hebi-sen'nin knew the reasoning behind his decision to lose the match on purpose.

            But, as they all got going in their proper places, they all knew that this next one was a doosie. This was the one that would show, at least partially, what this new girl at the tournament was all about. Chaozu, who was preparing for his match up, walked up to Maron with the intent of learning some of her fighting style. He was psychic, so he was going to try and read her mind to learn her strategy. He began a conversation to distract her.

            "Um, Hello," he said. "I hope you do well in your fight against me!"

            Maron, who was leaning against the wall, looked down at the doll-like fighter, and then telepathically said, _I know what you are trying to do. GET OUT OF MY MIND OR I'LL KILL YOU!_

            Chaozu blinked and walked away. It was time for him to go to the ring anyway. Maron, who was preparing herself mentally and physically, tilted her head to the left then right, and began walking towards her first major match of the Tenkai. Chaozu, who had rolled through his matches easily, was now beginning to let the ease of his previous lineups get to him; he was assured, by his own volition, of his victory. Maron, who was a whole three feet taller than him, decided to give him a warning.

            "Chaozu," she said, loud enough to have everyone hear, "I know you're weaker then me. I'd advise you to surrender."

            Tsuru-sen'nin looked over from the crowd. "HE'LL NEVER SURRENDER!"

            Maron looked over, shot him a look, and then shook her head. She knew what she was capable of. The announcer drew his mic, announced the match, and then the action began. It was Chaozu that tried for the first move. Needless to say, it was quite futile.

            And it was also quite interesting. He threw forward his palms in attempt to paralyze her with his telekinesis. It seemed to be working, so he went to deliver a kick to her forehead, which hit its target, sending her down to the floor. When she got back up, he paralyzed her again, and once again delivered a kick. This time, however, she caught his foot in midair.

            _What?_ Chaozu thought. _How could she not be paralyzed for real?_

            She smiled a menacing smile. _I'll tell you,_ she replied telepathically. _I'm far too powerful to be petrified by such a weak display of telekinesis!_

            She threw in his direction a standing sidekick that sent him out of the ring into the far wall, giving her the victory by a ring-out. Tsuru-sen'nin blinked; he was not expecting one of his best pupils to be defeated by a female. Goku and Kuririn were discussing how each one of them thought they would handle this new threat, which no one had seen before this tournament. Goku, a great warrior who normally knew how to handle strong opponents quite well, knew that even he would have quite a bit of trouble with this one. As they were talking, and Maron was proceeding back into the locker room, the announcer reminded them both of what they both were dreading; they'd have to fight each other next.

            Goku was not sure how much his partner had improved since the last tournament, but he was assured that he would more than likely have the advantage. Kuririn, however, knew clear to his heart that he would be defeated in the first few minutes. What could he possibly do to even the odds?


	6. Section 2 Chapter Three

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Three – The Tenkai Heats Up

            Once the two friends and training partners realized that they would be fighting each other, the strategies began to formulate. Goku thought up his plan in less than a minute; he would go in strong and quick, but not arrogant or eager. Kuririn knew that he had to somehow keep Goku distracted while he went for his tail. When Goku's tail was grabbed, the seemingly invincible young warrior lost all of his strength, which would make it quite a bit easier for Kuririn to win. He had to try this method; it was his only hope of winning the match and hopefully, the Tenkai itself.

            Maron was watching from the sidelines as the two friends stepped into the ring for their struggle against each other. She had no doubt that Goku had several main advantages going into this struggle, so she knew that if anyone was going to win, it was him. Kuririn was powerful-even on a superhuman level-but not good enough to defeat Goku in this match. At least, he couldn't do it without some kind of miracle. She had learned, from her last few years training with Hebi-sen'nin, that miracles in martial arts fights did not happen regularly.

            Both contestants were both eager to start the match and scared as to what might happen, but they both were ready when the gong rang signaling the start of the fight. Kuririn began the offensive side with a medium kick attempt to Goku's stomach area. This backfired, because Goku grabbed the foot in midair, and reversed the move, sending Kuririn far backward. Goku then responded with a strong offensive of his own, consisting of powerful punches to the face and chest. Fortunately for Kuririn, most of these he managed to either dodge or block. The ones that he did receive sent him back quite a distance, and took a lot out of him.

            Kuririn decided that his best chance was to try a plan that he had quite a bit of doubt in. He first waited for Goku to try and attack him from afar, and when he did, he jumped up in the air to dodge it. Goku, willing to continue the fight, followed him into the air. Kuririn then used the sunlight reflecting off of his bald head to temporarily blind Goku so that he could send him crashing to the ground with a downward kick. He tried, and most of this plan worked, but when it came to the crash, Goku caught himself and landed on his feet, unharmed. Kuririn was then quite an easy target as he descended to the ground. Goku, knowing that this was an open opportunity to end the match, flew towards him with a flying kick that almost hit, had Kuririn not taken in a sudden breath that allowed him to descend slower.

            As the two stood opposite each other in the ring, both were keenly calculating what to do now. "That was a really fun attack, Goku!" Kuririn said, referring to his inflating of himself to avoid Goku's flying kick that surely would have ended the fight right there. "Now, I think it's time for you to have some fun of your own!" After saying that, he drew his arms back to his side for a Kamehameha. He then began reciting the phrase that preceded the energy blast. Goku saw that his friend was trying a beam that was far too weak to do any sort of damage to him, so he put up his palm in warning.

            "Wait, Kuririn!" He cried, knowing that he would be easily able to deflect said Kamehameha. "Your beam's too weak! You'll simply be wasting your energy!"

            Kuririn, however, did not listen. He powered up and fired, causing Goku to roll his eyes and put up his palm to deflect the energy beam. When Kuririn fired, the beam soared across the ring and was stopped by Goku's left hand. "See, Kuririn?" he asked, then looked around for his friend, for he could not see him.

            "I'm here, Goku!" Kuririn yelled, suddenly appearing behind Goku. "Sorry it had to end like this, but otherwise I didn't stand a bit of a chance!" He then grabbed Goku by his tail, causing Goku to bob forward a bit, and then pass out on the ground. The crowd let out a gasp, for they did not know how such a great warrior could be toppled simply by the grabbing of a tail. The announcer began counting to make it official.

            "One! Two! Three!" Maron blinked a bit; she had been keeping track of the whole fight, and she was astonished by Goku's sudden loss of energy. She did not realize that it all came back to the tail, that it was that little appendage that caused him such grief when it was grabbed or squeezed. All she knew that he had to do something about it.

            "Four! Five! Six!" Kuririn began to smile at his easy victory.

            "Eight! Nine! Te…" The announcer was suddenly interrupted by Goku leaping off of the ground, behind Kuririn, and then launching him backwards with his tail. Maron raised an eyebrow in amazement.

            "What!?" Kuririn exclaimed, confused as to how Goku was not defeated. "I thought that if you had your tail squeezed, you lost all of your strength! How can you be still moving?!"

            Goku smiled. "I trained my tail so that when it is squeezed, I don't lose any strength! Amazing, huh?"

            Kuririn was now scared; he had no chance of winning. Goku was far more skilled than he, and was also far more powerful. If he tried anything, Goku would instantly know exactly how to counter it, and what to do in response as an offensive. It was quite hopeless to fight, but he had to press on. He moved forward, causing Goku to leap from his current position, and send Kuririn out of the ring with a swift kick to the side of the head. Maron smiled; she predicted this outcome because she knew that there was no way that Goku's friend Kuririn was capable of winning the match. Now, coming up, was the another major match of the Tenkai; Maron versus Tenshinhan.

            Tenshinhan, a student of Tsuru-sen'nin, knew that if he was going to beat her, it was going to require just about every bit of power that he possessed, and the same for the level of skill. He had previously heard of Hebi-sen'nin, and knew that this master had, in his arsenal, one of the deadliest weapons of all time. He knew, down cold, the power-up technique of the gods. This was the legendary Daimaoh-Ken. This technique had several major advantages to any other method of powering up; namely, whatever your enemy's power was, this allowed you always to be in proportion to theirs, so there was no way they could outmatch you. He'd never seen this powerful technique used, but he knew that if the legends he read were correct, he'd surely lose unless he used every single advantage he had.

            Maron had been trained by Hebi-sen'nin never to reveal any of her secrets to her foes. She knew that if she was to win, she had to give it her all, and not worry or experience any emotion that wasn't needed to win. Hebi-sen'nin had learned over his long life that the best fighter was one that thought only about the fight during the fight. It was how he defeated a legendary foe quite a while ago in his life. Now that his secrets belonged to the sixteen-year-old blue haired girl, she was quite different from the girl she was just three years prior. She'd aged a few years, matured as a warrior, and learned the single best method of martial arts ever constructed by a master. She was more than ready to fight Tenshinhan.

            Tenshinhan was up to the task of trash-talking. "You," he said, referring to Maron. "I hope you are as skilled as you are sexy. If not, you don't stand a chance." Even as he said those words, he knew in his heart that she was more skilled than she was sexy, even though her beauty went quite a long way. She looked at him and in that instant, sized up every aspect of his martial arts training due to her psychic mind-reading capability.

            They both walked down the aisle and out into the ring for their fight. They bowed to each other, got in their stances, and waited for the gong to tone. The announcer slowly walked away from the ring, sweat pouring off him more so than the warriors, hoping that none of the action about to take place involved him. Tenshinhan wiped a bit of sweat off his brow before it fell into his third eye. Maron tore off her sleeveless training shirt that had her Snake School symbol on it, revealing her yellow tank top which was loose against her breasts. She did this both to relieve herself from the heat, and to provide a possible distraction. Not, however, that she needed any such distraction. She knew she was ready. She just didn't know exactly how much.


	7. Section 2 Chapter Four

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Four – Maron versus Tenshinhan

            Gong. The tone of the gong ringing indicated that this match up was underway. Maron saw Tenshinhan fly towards her with all of his speed, which almost was faster than she could see. She carefully dodged to the left, making sure that none of him touched her. After said attack, she lifted her arm to block a punch which was hurled at her so fast that only they and Goku were capable of seeing it. He was strong; she had to admit that.

            He was also fast; she could barely keep up with him, even though she was as skilled as she was. He tried a kick to the head, which was dodged, allowing her to launch a fist at his face, forcing him backwards onto the ground. He got up-rather, he _flew_ up-and began a flurry of attacks that consisted of punches and kicks each with lightning speed. Each one that she dodged was slightly faster than the one that was before it. Even though they couldn't see it, they all heard the distinct crack that meant someone was thrown backwards. Once the speed had slowed down from the attack, they saw that Tenshinhan was the one that was sent back.

            "I…never thought that a girl could fight like this," Tenshinhan said, trying to catch his breath. He knew that she was obviously the strongest opponent he had faced yet, even more so than Jackie Chun, the opponent he fought in the last round. As he got to his feet, he noticed that even though he was open, she was not attempting a counter-offensive. That's when he realized her aspect of the training; one should always be on the defensive. He was wrong.

            A loud sound was heard throughout the stadium; it was the sound of her elbow hitting his head and sending him towards the wall. He righted himself to stop moving, but as he was doing so, she appeared behind him and sent him upwards with a well-placed kick. He moved his jaw back into its proper position, then attempted to stop in midair. This was a mistake because she leaped above him and nailed him with a perfectly timed axe handle smash. He put quite the hole in the ring when he crash landed. She walked over and lifted him by his collar.

            "Tenshinhan?" She asked, carefully examining his face. She knew that she had seem him somewhere before, but couldn't place it. She seemed to be confused as to who he really was. "Do you remember someone named Tynorou Shinhan?"

            Tenshinhan cleared his throat. "Y…yes!" He croaked. "I'm his little brother!" She seemed to gasp when he said that. He realized that she knew him from somewhere else, but couldn't place it. His eyes grew in size when he remembered why she also seemed familiar.

            "YOU!" She screamed, making sure her voice carried. "YOU STOOD THERE AND LAUGHED WHILE YOUR BROTHER DESTROYED MY VILLAGE!"

            He blinked; she was the little girl cowering in the corner while he taunted her. Now, here she was, far greater than he, getting her revenge for what had happened. "You will never get revenge on my brother!"

            "Why the heck not!?"

            "Because he's dead!"

            _As you should be_, she thought.

            He jumped to his feet. "TAIYO-KEN!" he screamed, his blinding flash of light catching her off guard a moment. She struggled to regain vision while in the meantime he launched a series of rather powerful attacks knocking her completely off her feet and into the wall near the entrance to the ring. Against the wall, he continued to pound her with fist after fist as she fought to break free and to see what was going on. He did not let up for even a second, which was the warrior-like thing to do. She had to break out on her own.

            Unfortunately for him, he let up when he thought she could take no more and was about to fall unconscious. She dropped to the ground while he conceitedly praised himself for his victory. As the announcer was prepared to count to ten, Maron disappeared from sight altogether. Tenshinhan, who was not usually tricked by rapid motion done to avoid detection, could not see her move even with his third eye. He spun around, feverishly scanning the area for her. He simply did not understand how she, who he defeated before, could now be too fast for him. He hoped that she would reappear.

            Boy, did she ever. She reappeared directly behind him, and launched a knee to his head. It was such a powerful strike that he felt several bones in his neck crack under the sheer force of her assault. His eyes became as large as eggs as he fell first to his knees, then flat forward on the floor. The whole crowd was silent from the sheer velocity of the match. She stood up and wiped the dirt off of her skin as she raised her arm in victory. Tsuru-sen'nin and Chaozu, who were behind in the crowd area, stood there with jaws wide open as could possibly be. Neither of them could believe it; Tenshinhan, a member of the prestigious Shinhan family, was defeated by a girl. It was unbelievable that a warrior who could take down even Tsuru-sen'nin himself had to be carried out of the ring on a stretcher with a neck brace around his neck.

            "Maron," the announcer yelled into his microphone, "is easily one of the greatest competitors we've ever had! Why, I suppose possibly even Son Goku might not be able to defeat this one!"

            Goku realized that perhaps the announcer was correct. After all, Goku knew that he would probably be a match for Tenshinhan, but if she was able to defeat him easily, she was far greater than he. Thus, she was more powerful than Goku as well. In any case, the match that was about to begin, in just a few minutes, was what was going to be the single greatest match that they'd come across yet; the match between the indestructible Son Goku and the seemingly-limitless ki reserve Maron. Walking into the resting area from the ring, Maron, noticed she was still in her yellow tank top. After that, she created a new shirt from pure ki.

            Goku came running up. "W…wait a minute, Ms. Maron!" Goku cried, trying to get her attention as she walked away. Hearing her soon-to-be opponent, she stopped walking forward and turned to face him. She had in her eyes a "you'd better make this quick" look.

            "What do you want," she inquired. "I'm gonna take a break before our fight. I haven't fought someone from the Shinhan family before and that was quite an intense battle."

            "I want to know who taught you how to fight like that," he asked. "I haven't seen anyone quite as powerful as you in my life, so who taught you what you know?"

            She smirked. "Boy," she replied, "you are too ill-bred to know of Hebi-sen'nin?"

            Goku shook his head innocently. "No, who's Hebi-sen'nin? Is he better than Kame-sen'nin?"

            Maron's eyes widened with shock; how dare he imply such a rude statement?

            "Better than Kame-sen'nin!?" She shrieked. "HEBI-SEN'NIN IS THE GREATEST MARTIAL ARTS MASTER EVER!"

            With that, Goku backed off because he had learned what he wanted to know. Maron slid open the creaky door to the pre-match area and sat down. From behind walked Hebi-sen'nin, her master. He had a look of surprise on his face. It was actually less surprise and more shock.

            "You defeated Tenshinhan?!" He asked, a sense of urgency in his voice. "Do you realize what you have done? No, it wasn't enough to defeat him! You had to break his neck!"

            She lowered her eyebrows. "What's the problem?" She asked, questioning his reasons. "I saw that it was the easiest way to permanently end the match!"

            He rolled his eyes, indicating that he knew something that she did not. "He's a SHINHAN! THEY'VE NEVER BEEN DEFEATED!"

            She shook her head. "And…?" She replied.

            He grabbed her by her shoulders. "You still don't get it do you?" He yelled. "The prestigious Shinhan clan of martial artists is the single most powerful martial arts family ever! None have ever fell in battle! Now that you've beaten him, the entire family will not stop until you are dead!"

            "You…mean they're gonna try to murder me!?"

            "YES! THAT'S WHY YOU SHOULD'VE EXCERCISED CONTROL!"

            She stood up. "I'll be damned if I'd lose a match on purpose. I don't give a crap who I'm against, or who their family is!"

            Hebi-sen'nin smiled. "That, my dear, is why I taught you the Daimaoh-ken."

            After that, he walked out, and she went back to lounging in the chair. She set her mental time-sense to wake her up in twenty minutes, and then fell asleep in the chair. Warriors of the Snake style could set a minor bit of ki to signal them when a certain time had passed, and also could sleep with both eyes open. She knew that if she was to fight Goku it would take all she had up to this point.


	8. Section 2 Chapter Five

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Five – The Tenkai's Ultimate Battle

            As Maron sat there resting in the chair, she dreamed of how much she enjoyed training with Hebi-sen'nin over the last four years. She had learned very quickly everything that she needed to know, and then continued training with him just to increase her power. She was easily one of the most apt pupils that he ever had, and with good reason. He knew that to train her would be to prepare someone for the world; when he first saw her, he sensed that her future would be quite bad if she were not to be trained martial arts by him. Even though she could not see into the future, he could. She would bounce around from one boyfriend to another trying to make enough money to make it on her own. He did it for more than just his own desire to train her; he wanted to give her a better life. So far, it was working.

            She was awoken by the pulsating of the ki that she set to go off after twenty minutes. She stood up and stretched, letting out all of her anxiety in one big yawn. When she woke up, she saw that sitting in the seat immediately next to her, was the one that she defeated; Tenshinhan. Just a half an hour ago, she broke his neck. So how he was walking and going about it as normal was bewildering to her.

            "Nice to see you're up, Maron," he said, an evil smile on his face.

            "How the blue hell did you survive after I broke your neck?" She asked. "I could've sworn that you were down."

            He nodded. "Oh, you bet that I'm in pain," he replied. "I'm wearing a tight neck brace right now just to keep my head on. I just wanted to tell you that you're screwed. NO one defeats anyone in my family, and gets away with it." She saw from the look in his eye that he was serious. This was the look of someone who knew that they were going to get their revenge, be it shortly, or quite a while from now. Frankly, the thought of his family coming and trying to kill her was something she did not want, but believed that she was prepared for. "See you later, if you last that long."

            She shot him an evil look while he was walking away. His family trying to kill her was a problem, but right now, there were more pressing matters at hand; namely, her fight against the young powerhouse named Son Goku.

            He was in the hallway waiting for her to come and begin the fight. She followed him down the long halls, and out into the area where the world's greatest fighters came to meet. Even though she was more than qualified to be in the ring with the world's finest, she couldn't help but get a sense of grandeur from this ring. The announcer, psyched as anyone else that was here for a fight that they knew they might never see again, lifted his microphone in a style he'd done thousands of times before, and announced the match.

            "Ladies and gentlemen!" he yelled. "This is the final match of the Tenka'ichi Budokai! Prepare for one hell of a fight!" At the sound of this, the crowd went wild with screams and yells of "let's go Goku!"

            "I hope you're ready for what I've got!" Goku screeched, psyching himself up for the match.

            "Kid," she replied, "you have no clue."

            Once again, she removed her outer shirt, revealing yet again her yellow tank top which, after the perspiration from the fight against Tenshinhan, clung more aptly to her chest. She waited edgily for the gong to tone, the moment before which seemed to last an eternity. Once the eternity was up, the gong rang, and she flew forward and drove her elbow deep into Goku's chest, propelling him backwards into the entrance wall with a screech of pain. He barely had time to blink before he was victim of a powerful flood of forward punches to his face and upper torso. Once the plume of strikes had ended, he disconnected from the wall and began descending to the floor. He did not have time to hit the floor, however, because she sent him upward with quite a powerful upward kick.

            She looked up at her airborne opponent, and then thrust herself upward to directly above Goku. One quick downward elbow smash sent him sailing downward, falling with speed that was thrice as fast as gravity alone. The landing created a new hole in the ring, which threw gravel and dust over everyone who was on the ground. Maron smirked and descended to ground level. She was quite surprised when Goku leaped to his feet bleeding only in a few places.

            "Man!" Goku exclaimed. "I can't believe how powerful you are!"

            Maron did not respond, she simply waited for him to launch his counter-offensive. He knew that with the level of power she'd used on him just a moment before, this was going to require him to go all out. He flew forward and went to throw a punch at her face. When she threw a kick in response, her foot went right through him without touching him; obviously, he knew the split-image illusion. Goku did not, unfortunately for him, know that she could read minds. She turned, with blistering speed, to the left and delivered a standing side kick that caught the wrong side of his head. With all of his might, he pushed energy against the wall to avoid a ring-out, which succeeded. The instant before he could respond, however, she was in front of him.  
            "Looking for me?" She sarcastically asked.

            The distinct "pow" of her foot meeting his head was heard throughout the area. He went sailing into the entrance wall and it broke his flight. This was getting ridiculous; he was slacking off, and even he knew it. So, while she was attempting a rapid kick-series, he went behind her and delivered a spinning roundhouse to the back of her head. He was lucky to catch her off-guard; this was one of the few times that she could not counter his speed. He was also lucky in the sense that this attack seemed to turn the tide.

            From this point forward, Goku was the one who was on the offensive and winning. One quick series of attacks after the other seemed to defeat her technique, which was strong against fast opponents but not ones that were this fast. Utilizing the nanosecond between attacks, Maron delivered a sharp punch to Goku's face, sending him to the floor. He leaped forth as if to launch an attack.

            _No no, she thought. _Not again. I'm ending this match.__

            Before his kick could meet her legs, she sprung high up again to gain some distance between him and her. Using her ability to manipulate ki, she flew up even higher to make sure he could not catch up. Once she was close to a half mile above the ring, she clasped her hands together in a ninja position, fingers together upward, thumb extended towards face. She kept her eyes open but concentrated within.

            Hebi-sen'nin, was watching his pupil's matches from the start of this tournament. Now, he knew exactly what she was planning, and he smiled; after she used this, this match was more than over. Goku, as strong as he was, would be lucky to exit this match with all his bones intact, much less victorious. As she concentrated, a trickle of sweat poured from her forehead; she'd gotten more used to this technique, she just had to have time to utilize it. This was a rare one that she seldom used, but now was the time. A dark field of light began to form around her.

            "DAIMAOH-KEN TIMES ONE!" She screeched, causing the field around her body to expand to full size. Goku's facial expression became worry when he felt her power jump from two hundred fifty to eleven hundred in an instant. She rapidly descended to floor level, where her opponent was somewhat uneager to face her.

            "Now," she cried, "do you think you're ready?"

            Goku backed off like a wounded animal; he was brave, but he'd never before sense this great a jump in power. As he prepared for the next part of the mêlée, he looked down to examine a soggy feeling that had arrived; he had wet his pants.


	9. Section 2 Chapter Six

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Six – The Tenkai's Ultimate Conclusion

            He was not prepared for such a drastic increase in power. This was evident in the fact that his pants were soggier now than they were just a minute before. He did not understand quite why he was so scared; after all, he was used to enemies' powers' increasing before, wasn't he?

            No. Not an increase this high. She had gone from two-fifty to eleven hundred instantly; such was not seen before. Everyone in the immediate vicinity could sense that now the match was clinched. At this point, Goku could launch a powerful offensive and it wouldn't matter at all. Still, as hard as it was to do, he had to try or else he might forever be infuriated at himself for giving up.

            "H…how could you possibly get so much stronger in just a few seconds?" The grim sound of his voice indicated that he was scared more so than he ever had in his life.

            She smirked. "Didn't I make it clear before?" She asked. "I told you that Hebi-sen'nin was the single greatest martial arts teacher of all time, and I trained under his wisdom."

            He wondered, just like Tenshinhan, how such a powerful warrior could be a girl. Then again, he was not expecting many things when he first met her, but then she surprised him by defeating Yamucha. It had suddenly turned colder when the two were still opposite each other in the fighting ring. He could tell by the sudden widening of her pupils that she was about to launch a major assault on him. Because he was such a skilled warrior, he could read her movements and as such, he twisted to the left and dodged a kick headed his way. _Perhaps I have a chance after all, _he thought. If he could dodge at least one hit, he might have a fighting chance.

            Of course she was still far faster than him. When he read her movements again and tried to dodge a fist, it ended up with her teleporting behind him. He turned to at least try to block the attack; she used a high kick to send him soaring up in the air. Once he was near the apex of his flight, a sudden rush of her ki shot her way up in the air all of a sudden. As she flew directly above him at the height of his launch, a downward driving elbow thrust him downward far more rapidly than even gravity could pull. The announcer performed a flying leap to exit the ring before Goku landed with a bang. The smoke from the crash landing had the entire crowd coughing for a few seconds. When it cleared, you should've seen the looks on the faces of the spectators.

            "W…wow!" Yelled the announcer. "Son Goku put up quite a fight against Maron, but in the end, she completely overpowered him! Unbelievable!"

            Maron descended to the ground, sneering. _You were quite a struggle, Goku,_ she thought. _In the end, however, I was still the best._ Walking up to the hole in the ring where her unconscious foe was lying, she lifted an arm in victory and grabbed her over shirt. As she left the ring, she was stopped by Kame-sen'nin, who had some serious questions on his mind.

            "What do you want, Kame-sen'nin?" She asked, wondering why he seemed angry. "Did I do something wrong by defeating your disciple?"  
            He shook his head. "That's not my problem," he replied. "My problem is that it wasn't a struggle for you to win. I could sense from the beginning that even if you were to be overpowered, you'd pull out that Daimaoh-ken and have the match."

            She shrugged her shoulders. "And…?"

            "That wasn't fair!" He shouted. "My Goku didn't stand a chance!"

            She nonchalantly walked away. "Not my problem," she fired off as she continued. On the way out, she stopped by the financial office to pick up her winnings. Since she was normally a loner, perhaps she'd use the money to buy herself a house. Maybe, even, she'd start a dojo where she could train warriors of her own. She imagined it; up on the top of a hill-just like her master- would be a building where she would train warriors of the finest caliber to be better fighters than they were before. In any case, she'd have to make sure she spent it wisely.

            "Miss Maron?" The person at the desk uttered. "Here's the 500,000 zenie." Maron reached over the desk and picked up the briefcase from the person's hand. This would be the money she'd use to improve her life. She gave a salute to the person behind the desk and exited the building. Once outside, she looked around for her master, who seemed to be somewhere else.

            "Hebi-sen'nin?" She asked, hoping he'd respond. Instead, she was struck on the back of the head by someone's knee. Because she did not have enough time to react, she was sprawled on the ground, trying desperately to stand up. Despite effort otherwise, the briefcase was wrenched from her grasp. Suddenly, a foot struck her in the side.

            "I was planning to kill you," a voice said menacingly, "but this should be adequate repayment."

            Although she currently was unable to stand, she heard the sound of an intense battle taking place between several people and one person who was kicking the crap out of them. Once the punching and kicking had stopped, a voice said, "I'll be taking that, thank you."

            A hand reached down and helped Maron to her feet; to her delight, it was Hebi-sen'nin. And-fortunately for her-in his other hand was her briefcase which, upon inspection, contained all the money in it. She dusted herself off, and proceeded to fly off with Hebi-sen'nin. Once they were airborne, she looked over and had a question for him.

            "Hebi-sen'nin?" She asked. "Who was that that tried to kill me?"

            Hebi-sen'nin rolled his eyes; he hated them. They were always after anyone who came close to defeating the prodigal son, Ten himself.

            "They were foot soldiers of the Shinhan Zaibatsu," he replied. "Since you defeated Tenshinhan, the head of the corporation, they're out to get you. I think from now on you need to be on your guard."

            Great; now she already had a financial empire out to get her, and it was only her second day in the city. She could only dream what would happen next.


	10. Section 2 Chapter Seven

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

2. Late Dragonball

Chapter Seven – Invasion of the Shinhan Zaibatsu

            She stood at the street level staring upward at the massive skyscraper. It was quite a sight from down where the normal people were; this building was easily taller than most mountains and the steel and glass gave it a dominating impression. She walked up to the front door, and uneasily pressed the intercom button. The speaker crackled a bit, then the silence gave and a voice came on.

            "Please state your business with the Shinhan Zaibatsu," the voice blandly called out.

            She cleared her throat. "My name is Maron," she said, inching closer to the speaker. "I've come here to settle my business with Ten."

            She then heard the sound of a group of people whispering to each other restlessly, obviously calculating what to do with her now that she was here. After a few seconds, a new voice came onto the speaker system, a voice that was audibly more feminine. "Ms. Maron," the female voice said, "Ten will see you. Please enter." The massive steel door slid open, revealing a carefully carpeted pathway leading somewhere in the back. She walked along the pathway, making sure she kept her guard up; she did not want to be struck from behind like she was before.

            Feeling slight vibrations in the hairs on the back of her neck, she whirled around to catch a foot, just as the door sealed shut. She scooted back a couple feet, and took up the snake stance. She looked around; fortunately, this small hallway was just wide enough for her to fight off this new opponent. She could tell by reading her opponent's moves that he was a student of the Tsuru-sen'nin. 

            "What do you want with me?" she asked, hoping to have her question answered.

            Surprisingly, her opponent responded. "Ms. Maron," he said, "you have dishonored lord Tenshinhan! Therefore you must die!"

            He may've been skilled, but one thing he did not have was proper technique. He threw at her a crane punch, which she dodged rather easily. While her opponent was retracting his arm, she snatched it, pulled him towards her, and delivered a knee to his chest as he approached. Grimacing in pain, he went for a spinning roundhouse, which she ducked below. The unique position she was in by dodging his kick put her in prime position for a standing side kick. He was about to go flying when she grabbed his left leg in midair, and twisted around, planting him halfway through the wall.

            _Stupid foot soldier,_ she thought.

            These hallways were bland, dark blue colored paint with rocky texturing. The only bright color around was the blood red carpet on the floor. As she was walking along, she unexpectedly ducked, avoiding two swords slashing from a small crack in both sides of the wall. From the crouch position, she pointed her arms at each wall, palms extended to fire ki. A abrupt yell later, and a large section of each wall was obliterated. Certainly, this complex had been designed to kill anyone who dared defy the mighty Shinhan Zaibatsu. It was incredible what one could do when one had virtually limitless resources; this complex was a perfect example. What else this meant was that if she was going to do this properly, she was going to have to be extremely careful. If she wasn't, she would probably be torn a new piehole.

            Fortunately, she was quite good at sensing danger whenever it was abound. For example, she managed to dodge three sets of dart shooters that tried to batter her with darts as she walked by. She noticed that while she strolled down the halls of the building, she was being watched by several different cameras that were hidden quite well in the walls. She ignored them and kept going until she entered a large open room with several doors; they all shut on her the instant she came in.

            "So," a voice coming from a figure masked by shadows said. "You've come here to settle your business with lord Tenshinhan."

            Maron apprehensively stepped a little closer to the shadowy figure. "That's right," she replied. "I defeated him in the Tenka'ichi Budokai. For some reason, he seems to think that I stole some kind of honor from him by doing so."

            The figure, while still shrouded by the shadow, came closer, allowing basic elements of itself to be revealed. For instance, Maron could tell by the basic shape that the being to which the figure belonged to was a female, just like her. She could also tell, by her ability to sense other sources of ki, that this female was quite skilled at martial arts with a ki level near or equal to her own. Due to this, the outcome of this battle would be decided only by whoever gained an advantage during combat.

            "Guard yourself," the woman said, turning off the light and making the room completely dark. "Now we shall see who will win!"

            Maron, who could not see, knew that she did not need to; it was one of Hebi-sen'nin's most important lessons. If you could not see, you could use either your enemy's ki signature or the vibrations in the air to find out where they are and what attack they're using. It was even better for Maron that she could sense both and use both to her advantage. So really, by turning off the light, the woman actually was not accomplishing anything she had not already.

            Maron sensed a foot sailing towards her head, so she threw up her left arm and blocked the kick in midair. Because she knew that her opponent was directly in front of her, Maron threw a fist forward, which surprisingly caught only air. Instead, she was struck from behind by a knee to her back. Blaring out a cry of pain, Maron was tossed forth into the wall. Urgently trying to learn why, Maron sensed that separate ki had entered the chamber and was just as powerful as the first. Maron blocked a knee headed for her stomach but could not block an axe-handle smash to her head at the same time, sending her forward into a barrage of punches to her chest and head, followed by a swift kick to her face. As she sailed backwards, she was caught in a full nelson by the woman, while the second person drove an elbow into Maron's stomach. She sensed that the person in front of her was about to throw a punch powerful enough to go straight through her, so she utilized all of her strength to flip the woman over so that the woman was upside down in front of her. Once the flip was complete, the person in front of Maron delivered his powerful punch, except instead of taking her head off, it penetrated the back of the woman, causing her to spit blood on the floor, while Maron backed off.

            "KIAI!" Maron screamed, sending the two of them through the wall with a surge of ki. The force of the push blasted them through seven layers of concrete, which led to a fifty foot drop onto the steel floor far below. Maron looked out the newly-formed hole in the wall; obviously, this room was a chamber directly above a massive science laboratory below.

            _Damn,_ she thought, looking at the two on the floor far below. _That couldn't have been a painless way to die._

            She exited the sealed room through the hole in the wall, and descended slowly down to the ground below. Once there, she walked through the series of complex machines and computers that adorned a pathway leading all the way to the end of the lab. Halfway to the end of the line of computers, she sensed someone coming towards her with a flying kick. Instantly, she ducked, causing the person to nail a computer next to her instead of her. When the person attempted a punch to her face, she delivered an open-palmed thrust to the person's chest, knocking him out cold instantly. Once he plopped down on the floor, she dragged him all the way to the end of the line of computers, where she saw a service elevator. Because it was retina-scan activated, she lifted his head to the eyepiece and scanned his eye-it was accepted. Inside the elevator, the computer activated.

            "Where do you want to be?" the voice asked.

            Maron carefully spoke her words to sound like Tenshinhan, whose voice she remembered from the Tenkai. "My office," she replied.

            "Floor one hundred seventy: Tenshinhan's office," the computer stated. "Have a nice day, mister Tenshinhan."

            The whirring of the elevator lasted roughly twenty seconds, while it was rising to the topmost floor. She noticed that the elevator was rising faster than most, so it would be there very soon. Once it stopped, the steel doors silently slid open, revealing the hallway at the end of which her target would be located. There was a surprising lack of guards as she walked down the hallway, just a series of paintings of the previous owners of this large company. Upon reaching the end, the secretary noticed that she was an intruder.

            "Hey!" The secretary yelled. "Are you supposed to be here?!"

            "My name is Maron," Maron replied. "Ten has some business with me."

            She checked; she was supposed to let Maron in if she got this far, because she would soon be dealt with by Ten. The secretary pressed a button, and Tenshinhan's office opened, revealing the man himself in his chair.

            "Well, Maron," he uttered. "I'm amazed you got this far. Now you die!"

            As soon as he finished that sentence, he leapt from his chair and threw a punch at Maron. She dodged it easily, and responded with a kick to the side of the head; she felt his neck break again, but somehow, he was still moving. During the last seconds his body responded, he hurled a kick at her, but she dodged and delivered a powerful punch to his gut. While he reeled, she kneed him in the chest, then uppercut him on the jaw. The last blow broke his neck again, and sent him backwards, through the glass behind his desk.

            He began to plummet towards the ground. During this time, he tried to use his ki to slow his descent, but could not; his spinal cord was torn, so his body would not respond. His eyes widened when he realized his fate.

            "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed, just an instant before he slammed into the pavement, shattering his head and splattering his bodily fluids all over the place.

            Maron, who witnessed the entire thing, exited his office. As she walked out, she turned to the secretary.

            "You might want to order the clean-up crew," Maron said.


	11. Section 3 Chapter One

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

3. Early Dragonball Z

Chapter One – A Saiyan's Arrival

            Goku began to ponder why he was here. He had been quite an excellent warrior so far, and had saved the world from evil such as Piccolo Daimoa, and prevented his offspring from doing to same. But now, he was facing an opponent that he knew to his heart would never be defeated by him, because this newer foe simply was far too powerful. Raditz, a Saiyan just like Goku (in fact, he claimed to be his older brother), made his presence known by kidnapping his son.

            "Piccolo!" Goku shrieked. "Can you still fight?"

            Piccolo ran his right hand over the area directly below his left shoulder where his arm once was. "Yeah, Goku," he replied. "I think that I can still fight." He was right; he could still fight, he just didn't know exactly how well he could fight now that he was down one arm. In the nanosecond he had before he would be forced to act, he pondered exactly what technique he could use against this evil Saiyan named Raditz. He couldn't use split-form; that required too much effort and too much time. It was the same case for regenerating his arm, which would also lower his battle power slightly. He couldn't use the Makankosappo, for that required a full five minutes to charge to enough power to effectively use against an opponent. Unless, however…

            "Goku!" He yelled. "Can you stall him for a few minutes? I think I have a way to defeat him!"

            Goku lifted an eyebrow in suspicion. "What do you mean?"

            "I mean what I said," he replied. "If you can hold him still for five minutes, I can unleash my ultimate attack against him!"

            Goku, who was planning to grab hold of Raditz with all his strength, was suddenly caught off guard by a fist to his back. He was thrown forward, just barely missing Piccolo, who was trying to charge up. Realizing that quick action would decide the fate of this battle, he held down the pain and flew at Raditz with all of his might. Raditz braced for his impact, but was off-guard when Goku suddenly stopped in mid-flight.

            "What the hell?" Raditz said. "Aren't you going to attack me?"

            After saying that, he turned his attention to a sudden appearance of Gohan, who was angry as ever. So angry, in fact, that he blew Raditz's space pod to bits. With screams of "Daddy!" he flew at Raditz even faster than Goku was trying to do. So fast did Gohan fly that even the mighty Saiyan did not have time to put up a defense against the impact. The impact threw him backwards just a bit, and put a major crack in Raditz's armor. Goku sensed that this was the absolute best time to attack, and threw himself up into the air, landing directly behind his evil brother. Utilizing all of his might, he put Raditz in a full nelson and held him as erect as a statue.

            "Piccolo!" he cried, half-desperation, half intense pain. "Can't you fire now!? My ribs are broken!"

            Piccolo knew that he needed only a few more seconds, so he pulled out the last bit of power he had and channeled it into his fingertips. Raditz, who was arrogant most of the combat, suddenly wore a dire expression on his face.

            "Kakarot! PLEASE!" He screamed, knowing the blast would be too much. "Spare us! We'll both die!"

            He turned his attention away from Goku, and faced the Namek that was about to bring his death. _No! _He thought. _I will NOT be defeated by this bunch!_

            That's when he realized; his arms and torso were held; not his legs.

            "MAKANKOSAPPO!" Piccolo screamed, letting all of his energy flow out of his fingertips in the form of the devil beam. Raditz cried for help, knowing that he would die now.

            All of what happened in the next few seconds took everyone by surprise. Raditz, who knew he had only an instant's time to react, threw back his left leg, catching Goku square in the balls. Goku, who took the full force of the impact, instinctively let go of Raditz to hold his now-aching crotch area, allowing Raditz to pull free. Raditz leaped out of the way instantly, causing Piccolo's beam cannon to blow straight through Goku, annihilating him instantly. Goku tried to scream out, but the only thing that exited his mouth was a ball of spit and blood mixed together. Raditz then landed behind Piccolo and sent him into the land of oblivion with a sudden burst of ki. Piccolo had only time to scream before he was obliterated.

            _Sorry, Kakarot, _he thought, _but it seems that I am the winner after all!_

            He turned to walk in the direction of Gohan when a fist struck his head, sending him backwards. Standing directly in front of him was a woman that did not seem scared. In fact, she had, around her, a dark field of ki.

            "Who the hell are you?" asked Raditz.

            "I'm the party pooper," she replied. "But you can call me Maron."

            He swung at her, only for her to crouch below it, then uppercut him in the face, hurling him upwards into the air. Halfway back down, he whirled around and flew towards Maron with all of his strength. Coming down, he was planning to swing a fist at her and send her into the land of oblivion with the added speed of his downward descent, but she moved quickly out of the way before his punch could land itself on her. Before he had time to search out his foe, she appeared behind him and delivered a powerful elbow shot to his back, sending him sailing across the field. Before he could stop himself, though, she appeared in front of him and delivered an intense kick to his face, sending him sailing again only in the opposite direction. This time, he decided that it was time to unleash all of his power at once, so he stopped himself, and held his position.

            "This is it!" he yelled. "Now you shall be destroyed! You haven't even seen my full power yet!" He wondered how a simple human could possess enough power to go one on one against a Saiyan warrior. Realizing that he had, up to this point, not faced an opponent quite like this one, he made his power level rise to seventeen hundred and fifty, hoping that his absolute maximum would be enough to take out this very powerful-and quite sexy-human warrioress.

            "I hate to break this to you," she replied, "but I'm holding back a bit as well! Because you've just raised your power, that means I can raise mine!" He lifted an eyebrow in confusion, for he did not believe that she possessed the power that she was bragging about. It was at that moment that he saw within her, a power that was increasing. For some reason, her power level was going up. Quite an intense power too; it was already at his level, and was going up.

            "How can a human possess such power?!" he shrieked. "Most of your species barely breaks a five!"

            She did not answer his question, she simply yelled, "DAIMAOH-KEN TIMES TWO!" He was taken aback by her sudden burst of power, which took her all the way past two thousand up to twenty-five hundred. She gave him-almost teasingly-a look that indicated he was done for.

            It was like being hit by a missile, only harder; she drove her fist into his gut, penetrating the armor and the skin as well, planting it well into his stomach itself. Instead of pulling out, she powered up, blowing a hole clear out his other side. He screamed in pain-or at least tried to-then plopped on the ground, barely alive. She stood over him in victory.

            "It seems you weren't the best after all," she exclaimed. "Don't worry; Goku will be back very shortly. I'd say perhaps a week."

            Raditz, lying in a spreading pool of his own blood, replied, "How is that possible?!" He did not understand, how could any type of being survive death?

            She smiled. "I'll tell you, you putz," she added. "We've got the Dragonballs. We'll wish him back to life."

            Raditz suddenly had an evil smile on his face. "You fool!" he responded. "This device I'm wearing not only determines power levels, but also is a communicator! Prince Vegeta will avenge me!"

            She did not believe that there was another being that was hearing what was said, until she read his mind. She was frightened by what she found; Prince Vegeta was the prince of the Saiyans, and he had a power far greater than Raditz. It was obvious that if there was to be hope for the Earth, people were going to need some help. She looked over; Goku was dead, so there would be no help from him. Piccolo was vaporized, meaning there wasn't enough left of him to help. Then, almost as an afterthought, she looked down at the near-dead Saiyan lying in front of her. He could help, but she blew him away. Wait! Wasn't there something she could do for him?

            She kneeled down and put her hand on the Saiyan's stomach area, which now had quite a hole in it. A bright light emitted from her hand, and seemed to descend into the center of the hole which had his gut in it. "If this Vegeta guy is really as powerful as you think," she said, "we're gonna need some help. You're gonna provide our assistance."

            With blood pouring from his mouth, Raditz weakly said, "NO! LET ME DIE! VEGETA'LL KILL ME IF HE KNOWS I FAILED HIM!" Unfortunately for him, it was too late; his gut had already reformed completely, and the blood was returning to his veins and arteries. She had-in effect-healed him completely. He angrily stood up.

            "Why the hell did you heal me?!" he screeched. "If I died, I wouldn't have to face his wrath!"

            She smiled complacently. "Just the more reason to train!" she announced. "Now, if you don't train, you'll be annihilated by your master. You also know that if you aren't on our side, I'll kill you."

            He blinked, realizing that she had now gained full control over him. "You bitch," he uttered.

            "So," she added, "I'd suggest we train together!"

            He scoffed at this claim. "How the hell can you trust me?!" It was really quite confusing to him.

            "I don't have to trust you," she replied. "If you try to side up with Vegeta again, he'll most likely kill you because of you staying with us. Basically, if you don't do what I say, you'll die. Either by him or by me, it really doesn't matter."

            She reached over and snatched his scouter, then smashed it underfoot. He looked over and gave her an angry look.

            "That was my scouter!"

            "When I'm through with you, you won't need any scouter."

            He didn't like it, but she had now gained full command of his future.


	12. Section 3 Chapter Two

All in the Technique

By Moonraker One

3. Early Dragonball Z

Chapter Two – The Regimen Begins

            Raditz was unimpressed by his surroundings when he walked into the small hut that Maron lived in. He would expect better living conditions from the warrioress who defeated him, since she should be more than able to win lots of money from her fighting skills. In any case, he could not see how such measly surroundings could prepare him for such a battle as to fight against Prince Vegeta, the Saiyan that was more than capable of destroying them all in just a few simple actions. He was a high-ranking elite, and Raditz himself was just the son of a third-class low level warrior. Raditz wished that Maron had let him die, for that would provide for quite a painless end compared to having to face Vegeta's wrath. Maron didn't know, nor did she truly care; she was only concerned with getting this Saiyan strong enough to provide an adequate defense for the Earth.

            "Raditz, this'll be where you'll be staying while we train together for the fight," she explained. She saw in his eyes that he was unfazed by this little hut that he had to stay in for the time being, but this was not where she stayed. This was Hebi-sen'nin's hut that she used whenever she needed to train. The place she lived in was the headquarters of the Shinhan Zaibatsu that she took over after making short work of Tenshinhan. She looked at the Saiyan, who was scanning the living room with his eyes, and rolled hers in exasperation. "Are you even listening to me?!"

            Where he had previously been paying her no attention, turned and faced her, giving her his full attention. "Huh?" he said, uneager to do anything. "Oh, you said something about this being the place where I'm gonna live while we train together?"

            She rolled her eyes again; this was going to take quite a while.

            Inside the main training room, which had a gravity control panel on the far wall, she showed him the room in which they would prepare for what would seem to be the ultimate fight. She sealed the door behind her, and set the gravity to fifteen times normal gravity; his legs began to wobble as he struggled to maintain balance under the pressure.

            "I've set the chamber to fifteen times normal gravity," she said. "Now try to attack me."

            His frown turned into an evil smile. "GLADLY!" he shrieked.

            He flew towards her with all of his might, but he knew that his best right now was weak. He tried to hurl a foot at her, but she ducked below it instantly. When she came up, he swung the opposite leg at her head, but she bent backwards to dodge it. His expression indicated that he was becoming frustrated, and thus, his attacks became looser and less powerful. She used this to her advantage, not even needing to power up to dodge his attacks which normally are quite powerful. After seven mis-kicks, he put all of his power into a fist headed directly towards her face. He smiled as he envisioned it taking her head off.

            Plop.

            Not a sound he expected; she caught the fist in mid air.

            "Almost channeled your anger there," she explained, "but still far too loose." Upon saying that, she grabbed his fist harder, and pulled him towards her directly in the path of her knee. His mouth opened wide like a gate from the pain of her knee. Before he could react, she drew back her fist, and hurled it at his face, sending him at full speed in the direction of the back wall. As he lifted his head to look at her, she turned off the gravity. "That, my friend, is the proper way of channeling your anger into your focal point."

            He spat some blood on her face. "Go to hell, bitch," he said, then drooped his head back down, unconscious.

            He awoke to a sudden burst of cold water on his face; his wounds were healed, and he was lying in the bathtub completely naked, with his repaired armor hanging on the towel rack. When he saw who was standing at the doorway, he moved the shower curtain to cover his personal region, then became angry.

            "What the hell happened in there!?" he shrieked. "You're only a human woman, and you kicked my ass!" Even though he asked, he knew exactly what happened. He knew that because he became frustrated, his attacks became sloppy like a child throwing a tantrum. That's the reason she so easily dodged his attacks, because he was not trying like he should have been.

            "I get the feeling you already know," she replied, reading his mind like she always did. By now, she was used to reading his mind on a daily basis, seeing what his feelings were, and how he seemed only to care about two things: training, and food. She was amazed that such a powerful being that could use his powers for such good could have such a useless existence of destroying what had taken millions of years to create. In any case, she hoped that by the time this training regimen was over, he'd be different, or at least be able to hold down the destruction enough to be useful for the time being.

            "Can you please give me some privacy!?" he screeched, trying to get her the hell out of the bathroom. She gave him a nod and walked out of the bathroom. _Stupid onna,_ he thought. _I can't believe that she fights like she does! Isn't there a limit for Humans?!_

            He slid his black underwear on then put his armor on over it, noticing that the large gaps in the front and back had been repaired; why would she fix his armor just for it to be destroyed again? Perhaps she was being nice, but why be nice to a warrior that tried to kill her? He just couldn't comprehend. Having exited the bathroom, he noticed that she was on the couch, sleeping with her eyes open. He decided that this was enough. No longer was he going to put up with this; he decided to try and attack while she was off-guard. He crept slowly towards the couch, carefully raising his fist over his head in attack position. Once he was close enough to the couch, he prepared to deliver the death blow.

            Bang; it was caught in mid air.

            _What the hell!?_ He thought. _How can she fight while she's asleep?!_

            She obviously was asleep; he could see a bubble hanging on her nose. While he was examining her sleeping pattern, a fist flew up and caught him right on the chin, sending him sailing backwards, stopping short of the back wall. In anger, he grasped her throat tightly, hoping to choke the breath out of her. He smiled wickedly; it seemed he was finally rid of her, considering that she was not responding.

            The shock of impact he felt almost a second after the smile; she drove her fist into his gut. Not hard enough to penetrate the skin or even crack the armor, only hard enough to force all the wind out of him. Once he backed off and she retracted her fist, he noticed that through all of this, she was still sound asleep. He was utterly dumbfounded as to how she could be fought-and fight back-without being woken up. He didn't expect it, but what else could he do. He was amazed by the way she could go from violent combat into peaceful slumber in only a short period of time; it would take him quite a while to discharge from high-level fighting. Oh well; there were a lot of secrets this woman held, and he was dead-set on finding out every one of them. He believed that she was able to react through her subconscious while asleep, and that was why she could fight back without being woken up. To test his theory, he moved his hand towards her as if to grab one of her breasts. In response, her hand flew up and clasped itself tightly around his neck, then fell limp again once he retracted his hand. He smiled; even though she was in dream land, she could sense everything that was happening around her. This was one skill of a true warrior.

            Halfway through the smile, he caught himself smiling. It seemed strange to him; why would a Saiyan warrior like him smile at the thought of her being a true warrior? Wasn't it true that he didn't care what happened to her? He decided he was tired, so he fell asleep floating a few inches above the floor. It was off to the land of battle dreams for him. As he faded into slumber, the area around him seemed to get heavier.

            A few second-to him-after he was asleep, his eyes burst open; he could feel the air around him to be far heavier than it should be. He tried to stand up, but found it took all of his might just to reach a horizontal position, much less walk any distance. Once he was upright, however, he scanned his surroundings. Somehow, he was in the training chamber, and the gravity was set to fifteen times normal gravity. He looked forth at the woman who had brought him in here.

            "Why did you wake me up?!" he shrieked. "I only was asleep for a few seconds!"

            She shook her head. "When you fell asleep," she corrected, "it was sometime in the afternoon yesterday. You slept all night long; I woke up to do my midnight jog, and you were floating above the floor, drool seeping from your mouth."

            Angrily, he flew forth, again realizing that he was not going to go very far. He hurled a punch at Maron, the same way he usually did. What he noticed this time, however, was that she had a little more difficulty dodging it.

            "Not bad," she replied, rapidly dodging more of his punches. "You're actually channeling your power better than you did before. A little more training and you should be a force to recon with."

            He hurled a kick at her head, expecting her to again easily dodge it. What surprised him was that even though she tried to move, his attack actually connected. To her, it must've felt like a flea bite, but he was happy that it still connected. She smiled, indicating that she was pleased with his quick skill increase. A sudden jab to the gut, however, indicated that he still had quite a bit of ways to go. Then, a sideways kick sent him in the direction of the back wall. He managed to use the force of the impact to propel him towards her faster, hoping to land a punch. He threw it with all of his might, landing a blow directly on the cheek. To his amazement, it actually caused her head to move slightly.

            "Once you manage to knock me off of my feet from a standing position," she replied, "you will have passed my training regimen."

            "I hope you'll be ready when I do," he added.

            He made the mistake of letting his guard down; a quick head butt had him sprawled out on the floor.

            "Oh I think I'd be ready," she responded.

            The next morning, she got up and looked out the window at the beautiful day, just like she always did. She slid off her clothes and showered, just like she always did. Afterwards, she dressed and ate, again, just like she always did. What she noticed, however, that the door to the training room was sealed, and the light was on, indicating that the room was in use. A few minutes later, the light came off, and the door came sliding open. Standing in the middle was a sweat-covered Raditz, hands on knees, trying desperately to catch his breath.

            "G…good..morning," he said, in between breaths. "I..decided it would…be best to get some training."

            She looked over at the panel; he was training at thirty times gravity?! Shocked she looked at him. "How long have you been training at thirty times gravity?!" she screeched. "I didn't think you could survive that long!" The answer to her question came when she looked at the bag of senzu beans lying near the corner; half the bag was gone.

            "I trained for about six hours at forty-five times gravity," he replied. "Whenever it got too intense, I'd eat a bean. Once I realized forty-five was too much, I lowered it to thirty. That was about two hours ago."

            "W…wait," she stopped him with. "You've been training since midnight!? How'd you know the beans would heal you?"

            He gathered his thoughts. "I woke up at midnight, hungry with one hell of a headache," he explained. "I saw this bag of beans, and I ate one. Instantly, a major cut on my arm and my headache disappeared, along with my hunger. I figured, hell, why not train with these?"

            She smiled and entered the chamber. "How's twenty times sound to you?"

            He nodded and assumed his stance. She sensed that his power had drastically improved, allowing her to use all of her power in the fight against him. He burst forth with a series of punch flurries, almost all of which she barely had time to block. Even at this level of gravity, all of his punches came at her with the weight of a Buick. She was impressed how on only the third day, he would so greatly improve. When he hurled a kick at her, she put her hand up and caught it in midair, but he was still able to connect with her head. She smiled at the thought of what she'd have to do to survive this fight.

            "DAIMAOH-KEN TIMES TWO!" She yelled, increasing her power with a sudden burst of dark ki around her. Now, they were more equal than they were before.

            He channeled a lot of ki into his focal point of attack; a right-handed punch. She barely had enough time to catch his wrist in midair, stop his punch, then retaliate. She quickly whirled his arm around so that his knuckles were facing down, effectively breaking his arm at the joint. He screeched loudly in pain, then used her temporary decrease in guard to delver a sharp kick to her side with his left leg. In response, she attempted a straight punch to his jaw, then stopped an inch short. He was confused as to why she'd stop, and why she had a surprised look on her face.

            She looked down; her feet were two and a half inches off the ground.


End file.
